


Short and Sweet

by yerrr87



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29926431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yerrr87/pseuds/yerrr87
Summary: After the Quidditch Final, Angelina receives an unexpected letter. Set during Order of The Phoenix. FW/AJ
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/Fred Weasley
Kudos: 3





	Short and Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: HP not mine.

Angelina hadn’t been expecting any mail on a Saturday, and when the familiar rush of owls entered the Great Hall during breakfast, she did not look up, concentrating on pulling a carafe of coffee towards herself and dreading the amount of studying awaiting her. She heard a shout of pleasure come from her right, and looked over to see Lee Jordan detaching a thick scroll from the leg of a grey owl.

“Who’s that from, Lee?” Alicia asked through a yawn, sitting down across from Angelina.

“Well, now it’s through Umbridge’s brigade,” Lee said, shooting a derisive look at the head table and gesturing at the red stamp branding the outside of the letter, “Fred and George with news from the outside world!”

Angelina felt her stomach sink, hardly listening as Alicia laughed, “Is that a  _ custom letterhead _ ?” She hadn’t heard from the twins since their untimely departure from school, nor was she expecting to. Fred had pulled her into a classroom the night before and told her their plan and she’d lost it, shoving him away from her with such force he’d seemed winded, then shouting so loudly he had needed to put a Silencing charm on the room. They had sparred before, but this time when she’d stormed through the door and left him standing red-faced and silent behind her, it had seemed like the end of something that had never quite begun. 

So she was surprised when she reached for her coffee and her hand collided with the feathers of the grey owl, which was looking at her expectantly and holding out its leg. There was another scroll attached to the leather thong, pale green and slightly creased from where the Inquisitorial Squad had roughly opened and re-rolled it. Angelina tentatively slid the letter out from its holder and the owl hopped down the table, heading for the platter of toast in front of Lee. 

She unfurled the parchment, taking in the embossed gold “WWW” letterhead, and below, a short message in a slanted scrawl: 

_ Heard about the match.  _

_ Knew you had it in you. Congratulations Captain.  _

_ x Fred _

Angelina bit her lip and felt a surge of guilt run through her. She looked over the top of the letter to see Alicia’s hazel eyes boring into her from across the table. “Well?” she demanded.

Angelina sighed and passed the note to her. Alicia seized it and read it quickly, then rolled her eyes, handing the parchment back to Angelina. “Short and sweet, I suppose.”

“Yeah…” said Angelina, folding the letter and sliding it into her pocket. She moved her coffee out of the way of the owl’s beak and stared down at her quiche, still aware of Alicia’s gaze. She ignored it for as long as she could before meeting her eyes again. “Yes?”

Alicia squinted at her. “What’s going on between you two, anyway?”

Angelina felt her face get hot. “Oh, you know,” she muttered, “It was left a bit…” She waved her hand vaguely, noticing that Lee had stopped reading his own letter and was now making a production out of choosing a piece of toast. She wondered if Fred had told him how she’d reacted the night before the twins left Hogwarts for good; the thought made her face grow even hotter than before, and she quickly looked away. 

“Bad. It was bad,” she finished lamely. 

Alicia’s face alternated between sympathetic and fed-up, ultimately landing somewhere in the middle. “Well, it couldn’t have been that horrid, he wrote you after all.” 

“I guess. Hey—” Angelina got up abruptly. “I left my Transfiguration notes in my other bag. I’ll meet you out in the library and then we can study.” She shook her satchel as if to make a point. 

“Alright,” said Alicia. “See you at our usual table.” 

Angelina swung her legs over the bench. Passing close to Lee’s seat, she leaned over and hissed, “It’s not polite to eavesdrop,” into his ear, startling him, then continued to make her way out of the Great Hall. 

It was a lie. Instead of heading up the stairs to Gryffindor tower, Angelina strode straight through the vast doors at the front of the castle and onto the grounds. Her bag banged against her thigh, heavy with textbooks, and she worried the folded letter with her fingers. 

She stopped close to the lake, throwing her bag down and herself after it. How to respond, she thought, rifling through her bag to grab a sheaf of parchment and a quill. Casually, like nothing ever happened? A friendly ‘thanks, Freddie’? How about: 

_ Cheers mate - Angelina  _

She looked at the words, then shook her head. “Fucking awful,” she muttered, making a great X over the parchment and tossing it to the side. She got out a new sheet and tried again:

_ Thank you very much, it was a team effort —  _

Why was she writing like she was responding to an interview question? Angelina crumpled the letter and closed her eyes, thinking back to their last conversation. What gall, she thought savagely, thinking he could just gloss over their fight with a missive and a kiss. Typical male. She dipped her quill. 

_ Nice try Weasley you’re still a towering arsehole —  _

Too angry. Again:

_ Fred, you total prat, I still cannot believe you left — _

Angelina sighed and looked out over the grounds, lost in thought. What she wouldn’t give to be interrupted by the Weasley twins now, to catch Fred’s laughing eyes and see his lips twitch into a smirk. “Dammit,” she whispered. She missed him. She wondered if he’d had this much trouble writing to her. 

She got out another sheet of parchment and stared at it for a moment, before writing:

_ Wasn’t the same without you two. Wish you were here.  _

_ Don’t burn down Diagon Alley before I’ve had the chance to see the shop.  _

_ Ange  _

That would have to do. She heard Alicia’s voice in her head,  _ short and sweet _ . Angelina looked around her at the drafts littering the grass and Banished them with a flick of her wand. She got up and brushed off her jeans, squinting in the sunlight, and wondered if she had time to stop on the way to the library to go to the owlery. 

As she made her way back to the castle, she rolled up her response and put it in her pocket where it nestled against the pale green parchment bearing Fred’s message.


End file.
